Most of the students I teach, I never hear from after the final exam. The exceptions are almost always utter delights – the folks who sincerely took interest, who liked to learn, who were kind and thoughtful and real. Every once in a while one will re-emerge from the ghostly wisps of the past, reminding us that our work isn’t ephemeral, even if it usually feels that way.
Two former students resurfaced this weekend. One, whom I taught in 2007, wrote me for a reference – no, not a recommendation letter, but the title of an essay! A piece she’d remembered and wanted to reread! Turns out she’s well on her way to a Ph.D. in psychology. She tells me my class made a lasting difference in how she views the world. Judging from her request, she’s got an abiding interest in sexual assault. I hope she’ll be able to marry that with her psych skills. She says she’s developed an abiding “passion” for women’s issues. Words like “powerful” and “inspirational” were bandied about. Let’s just say I’m the one who felt most energized and inspired.
The other ex-student was more of a monster rising up from the deep. [Edit: That comes across as unduly harsh: The ideas she espouses are the monster, not the ex-student herself.] Technically I’d never taught her; I’d only read her column in the school paper, marveling at its wingnuttery. I also listened to the venting of colleagues who had the dubious pleasure of teaching her in WGS and journalism. There, she was intermittently hostile to her feminist teachers and consistently too cool for school. I always thought her ambition was to become the next Ann Coulter.
Surprise! She’s publishing cheek-by-jowl next to Coulter at Town Hall! (Via Renee at Womanist Musings who braved the ooze of the far right – a far more intrepid gal than I.). Now that our young alumna is halfway to her goal, it’s fair to name names: Meet Ashley Herzog, recent Ohio University grad, proud denizen of wingnuttia, author of Feminists against Women. Oh, and she’s also making those lists of “top conservative women who are HAWT!!” (to which we owe the following photo).
In her latest post at Town Hall, Herzog takes aim at my university’s new gender-neutral housing option:
The idea that college life is so tough for gay and transgendered students that they need separate housing is preposterous. Far from being uniquely oppressed, the LGBT contingent is often the most catered-to of any group on campus. Administrators go to great lengths to satisfy these students while simultaneously nurturing a victimhood complex.
(Read the rest if you think it could possibly get better. I promise it won’t.)
Hahahaha! You’d think gender-neutral digs would feature jacuzzis, wall art by Robert Mapplethorpe and Judy Chicago, and surroundsound cycling through Liberace and Elton John, Holly Near and Bikini Kill.
No. Dude. It’s just a dorm room. In fact, said rooms won’t have any extra features. It will merely lack one simple furnishing that used to come standard: a roommate harboring homophobia and transphobia.
As for a “victimhood complex,” Herzog’s been nurturing her own for at least half a decade, spurred on by silly instructors who insisted she work for a grade. By now, her wounded victimhood is festering quite nicely. I’m sure she’s finding that what failed in the classroom will stand her in good stead at Town Hall. Ann Coulter, prepare to move over.
Me? I reserve the right to snark at Herzog in the future when she deserves it. (And she will, she will.) In the long run, I’m far more interested in what becomes of my smart, altruistic former students who don’t see self-promotion as their best quality.
Update 1-27-11, 4:30 p.m.: I want to make it crystal clear that I will never, ever mock students for statements they make in class. That is a zone of privacy, a safe place for exploring ideas, even (or especially!) half-baked ones. I will occasionally blog about interesting things they teach me, but I won’t publish their names. If a student places themselves in the public sphere by publishing views that are reprehensible, criticism is fair play. I still wouldn’t call him or her out for anything that happened in class. By the same token, I’ll link to any student who publishes something interesting, and I’ll do so with great pleasure. All of this goes for former students as well as current ones.
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
And I was really hoping this would be an article about what a joy Jeremy and I have always been hahaha.
And don’t worry too much about society. I think most of us are on your side with this one haha
One of the last things I did at OU, the school Ashley Herzog graduated from, was sit down with Mickey Hart of the LGBT Center to discuss the coming changes in the budget and how the LGBT community feels about life at OU. Herzog’s bit about LGBT students “whining” to the school papers to get some physical space is awful. I have been trying to come up with some meaningful comparison but it is late and nothing fair and well thought-out comes to mind right now. I will come up with something later.
At OU, all sorts of organizations are allowed to apply for space as well as the existence of offices such as the Women’s Center, offices for Greek Life, The Hillel Jewish Center and plenty of others exist. If the group in question were not the LGBT community the question would be different. I think it would be safe to say that many religious groups, ethnic group and sometimes Republicans, conservatives, Democrats or liberals (mix and match as you please) are in the minority. They all can very well make a claim that they deserve physical space on campus and their arguments will almost certainly be valid.
Add to the problem that many LGBT people do not feel that they would have any other safe place and things like the Safe Zones, dorms and the centers are even more important. It is not “catering” to a community of people when a campus takes steps to offer them a place they and their peers can meet or at the very least feel safe. That is being a reasonable and caring human being.
Some of the comments on Herzog’s article ask why the LGBT community should expect any special treatment and why they should get any dorm considerations. As if people should not have a right to feel and be safe in college, no matter who they are. It’s not whining if you’re asking for something in the interest of letting you live in peace, but one of the fundamental problems is people not actually seeing the LGBT community as valid. Instead it is weird, morally corrupt, trying to turn everyone gay, destroying family values or in some way sub-human. It is impossible to have a healthy discussion about the rights of a community when that community is seen as less-than human by a major part of their own society.
I hope you’re right, Jake. And I hope the dorms work out well for OU. In other, much more pleasant news I hope the year is going really well for you, Sungold. I hear good things.
Gawd, she even looks like Ann Coulter! She’s obviously cultivating that. Creepy. Kind of Stepford-Wife-ish.
P.S. It’s a fricking tundra out there. I HATE WINTER!!!!
I only took one women’s studies class at OU…fall quarter of freshman year before I ever wrote a column. So you’re lying about your “Gender and Women’s Studies” colleagues knowing me. Thanks for posting my picture too! Every time some fat, ugly broad–which I’m sure you are–writes a post about me, they include a picture so they can pretend I’m not attractive and they’re not jealous. (I’m sure “Lisa Simeone” is no looker either.)
This looks like a rip-off of Womanist Musings, except people actually care what she has to say. Good luck with your shitty blog that no one reads, and I wouldn’t have found without a handy Google alert.
Ashley, sweetie, play by the rules:
“Comments: Please Play Nicely
I love critical but constructive feedback. I’m happy to entertain opposing arguments. I’m not willing to host mudslinging, ad hominem attacks, disrespect, unkindness, or hate – especially toward other commenters. Obvious trolls, jerks, and spammers will see their comments deleted and future comments blocked.”
I approved Ashley’s comment because I was pretty hard on her in this post and thought she should have a chance to reply.
For the record, Lisa is a hot tamale. Myself, I am fat and ugly. While we’re at it: I’m also old, bitter, and a man-hater.
Seriously, Ashley, you’ve got talent as a writer. Conventional good looks don’t in any way preclude that. Inside the conservative bubble, that combination can take you to the top. But does the world really need another Malkin, Coulter, or Bachmann?
Myself, I believe we need more thoughtful conservatives who are open to engaging with ideas that don’t just reinforce the conventional wisdom of the right-wing extremists. I’ve had a number of students who fit that bill, and I hope they’ll stay that way. They did not cultivate a reputation for already knowing it all. They assumed college was a place for learning and growing, even – or especially – when confronted with ideas that didn’t reinforce their preconceptions. It’s possible to be conservative and not feed homophobia or transphobia.
Jeremy’s response blows me out of the water. Feels like WS100 all over again. That’s okay, though. Those really were, as they say, the days.
I should write a post on Jake and Jeremy – you were both excellent students and are awesome people!
Jeremy is really right that LGBT students are not asking to be coddled. They are asking for places that feel like a refuge precisely because they still meet hostility in the culture as a whole. To give just one example: as long as “fag” and “gay” are used casually as put-downs, LGBT students cannot assume they will be treated as equals by everyone they meet.
Young people’s attitudes toward non-normative sexualities have evolved a lot since I was in college, lo those many decades ago. That doesn’t mean all of their peers are ready to accept them as fully-fledged human beings. (Herzog’s column is Exhibit A!)
I should mention that the student center that houses the LGBT center also provides space for the Greek umbrella groups. I’m glad it does. Claiming a need is not the same as whining or embracing victimhood.
And Jeremy, you hit the nail with this: “It is impossible to have a healthy discussion about the rights of a community when that community is seen as less-than human by a major part of their own society.” Thank you.